Curtain will go up on the 17th edition of the International Documentary and Short Film Festival of Kerala (IDSFFK), organised by the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy, at the Kairali theatre complex in the capital on Friday.
Over the course of the six day festival, 331 films from 52 countries will be screened across 29 categories.
The screenings will begin at 9.15 a.m. on Friday.
Minister for Cultural Affairs Saji Cherian will formally inaugurate the festival at a function to be held at the Kairali theatre at 6 p.m. General Education Minister V. Sivankutty will preside over the function. Following the ceremony, the opening film From Ground Zero, a collective work by 22 Palestinian filmmakers capturing the untold stories of the ongoing genocide in Gaza, will be screened.
Distribution of delegate passes began on Thursday with Culture department Director Divya S. Iyer handing over the first delegate kit to actor Mathew Thomas.
Screenings will be held under sections such as the competition categories for long and short documentaries, short films, animation, music videos and campus films. In addition, there will focus categories for short documentary, long documentary, short fiction, international films, festival winners, and jury films. Alongside screenings, the festival will also host meet-the-director and face-to-face sessions, masterclasses, and panel discussions, giving delegates opportunities to engage with the filmmakers.
Award
The Lifetime Achievement Award for Outstanding Contribution to Documentary Cinema will be presented to Rakesh Sharma, who made acclaimed documentaries including Final Solution, on the Gujarat pogrom of 2002. The award carries a cash prize of ₹2,00,000, a citation, and a statuette. Four of Sharma’s films will also be screened at the festival.
The Homage section will pay tribute to recently departed filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Shaji N. Karun, Souleymane Cissé, Tapan Kumar Bose, Tarun Bharatiya and R.S. Pradeep and playback singer P. Jayachandran.
Closing ceremony
The closing ceremony will be held on August 27 at 6 p.m. at the Kairali theatre, where awards for the competition section will be announced. The best long documentary will receive ₹2 lakh, while the best short documentary will be awarded ₹1 lakh. In the short film category, the best short film will be granted ₹2 lakh, and the second best short film will receive ₹1 lakh. Additionally, the best campus film produced in Kerala will be honoured with a ₹50,000 prize.
Delegate fees are fixed at ₹590 for the general category and ₹354 for students. Registration can be done online at registration.iffk.in or directly at the delegate cell operating at the Kairali theatre complex.
